Mining-skip



(No Model.) V

L. S. WOODBURY.

MINING SKIP.

No. 394,633. I Patented Dec. 18, 1888.

QMJMQ W ,1. 71M 526mb r UNITED STATES LEANDER S. \VOODBURY,

PATENT OFFICE.

OF CALI MET, MICHIGAN.

MINING-SKIP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 394,633, dated December 18, 1888.

Application filed April 21, 1888. Serial No. 271,451. (No model.)

To all whom/ it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEAN DER S. 'OODBURY, of Calumet, county of I'Ioughton, State of Michigan, a citizen of thel'nited States, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mining-Skips, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

My invention relates to the car commonly known as a skip, used in mines to carry the ore or other mined material from the levels to the mouth of the mine.

The object of my invention is to provide a mining-skip of increased strength and consequent durability, and one which has a greater load capacity than the skips now commonly used, and a skip in which the ore may be transported directly and without transfer to another car from the mouth of the mine to the furnace or other destination.

)Iy invention consists in the combination, in a mining-skip, of the hereinafter-described devices, as more at length recited in the claims.

Figure l is a vertical longitudinal central section of a mining-skip containing my invention on the line y y, Fig. is a front end elevation of the skip. Fig. 3 is a plan of the skip; and Fig. iis a vertical crosssection of the skip on the line .70 .r, Fig. 1, looking toward the rearward end and showing a modification of one feature of my i11- vention.

The skip or car is constructed with the sides A extending the length of the vehicle and preferably vertical, as shown. The bottom is composed of a plate or sheet of metal such as ironwhich is corrugated throughout its extent, the corrugations being preferably lateral of the plate. This bottom is shown at B. Upon this bottom within the skip I place the plane-faced floor B, which may also be an iron plate, as thus a smooth surface is provided for the ore and the liability of the ore to lodge in the corrugations when the car is being emptied is avoided. The bottom thus constructed of the corrugated plate B possesses greater strength and supporting ability than one which is formed wholly of plane metal. The forward end wall, 0, of the skip is curved or inclined upwardly and outwardly,

as shown, and is desirably of a height less than that of the main portion of the sides of the skip. A cover or roof, D, extends from the rearward end of the skip forwardly over and closing in the body of the car and terminating to the rearward of the top edge of the front end wall, 0, so as to constitute a mouth, E, in the space between the front edge of said roof, said top edge of said front end wall, and the top edges of the sides A. The top edges of the sides between the line of the front edge of the roof and the line of the top edge of the front end wall are desirably inclined downward from the former to the latter, as shown at a, Fig. 1. The rearward end of the bottom of the skip is carried upward in a curve or incline and then rearward, as shown at B C is the rear end wall of the car-body.

By means of a car-body thus constructed I am enabled to place the supporting and car rying trucks wholly beneath the car-body, as shown in the drawings. The forward truck, F, is placed directly beneath the upwardly and outwardly curved or inclined forward end wall, C, in the space which the form of this wall constitutes under it. The rearward truck, F, is placed directly beneath the upwardlycurved portion B of the bottom in the space which is thus constituted in the body at the rear. The trucksmay thus be made of a less width than that of the body of the skip, so that the wheels will lie within the lines of the sides A, while the form of the bottom will not obstruct the movement over its end portions freely of the ore, both in loading and dumping the skip. The carrying or load capacity of the skip is thus increased over that of skips now ordinarily used, wherein the wheels are placed on the sides of the skip and consequently project laterally from the skip, so that the skip-body has to be of much less width than that of the shaft or incline.

By means of my construction the skip-body may approximate closely in width to the width of the shaft, and thus give greater load capacity.

The trucks are preferably composed of the axles f, on which are the wheels f, the axles bearing in boxes fiwhich are carried by brackets f suitably attached to the curved portions of the car-bottom, as shown. The boxes relieved.

thereof.

If desired, the sides A of the skip may be continued downwardly at A past the curved portions of the bottom to constitute aprons or guards inclosing the trucks at the ends The axle of each wheel may then be a short one, as shown at f Fig. 4, having hearing at one end in the box f fixed to the curvedportion of the car-bottom, and at the other end in a socket or bearing, f, carried by the apron A. When the short axles are used, the bottom of the car between the wheels at the front and rear ends may be carried forward horizontally, as shown at B Fig. 4, to the end walls, and only that portion of the body which is directly over the wheels be curved upwardly.

G represents draw-bars suitably attached in any usual manner to the car-body, and G is a loop fixed to the rearward end of the skip.

In using my described skip it is lowered, rear end first, along the tramway down the main shaft or incline to the levels, and the ore is dumped from the levels into the open mouth E of the skip. The ore by gravity falls to the rearward end of the skip, filling the interior as successive dumps are made, the cover D preventing the escape of the ore and enabling the skip to be loaded full.

, In skips as usually constructed, open throughout the top, they can be only partially loaded, owing to the liability of the ore to escape at the rearward end over the 'rim of the car as it stands on the incline. When the skip is loaded, it is drawn up the shaft to the 40 month of the mine, and it may then be drawn the ore from escaping.

along the tramway on the level ground directly to the furnace or other destination, the load settling into position in the skip as it. runs on the level and the cover preventing When the dumpingplace is reached, the skip is raised at its rearward end by means of suitable hoisting-tackle attached to the loop G on said end, and, swinging on its forward truck, the tilting of the skip will cause the load to be discharged over its forward end wall, 0, through the mouth E.

. The necessity of transferring the load from the skip to another car adapted to run on. a level track when the skip is hauled to the month of the mine is thus avoided, as is cusload, and may be run to its destination on the surface of the ground from the mouth of the mine.

bottom, all substantially as and for the I do not claim, broadly, a car having the end portions of its bottom raised above the main portion to constitute spaces underneath the ends of the body for the location of the axles and wheels, as I am aware that cars have been heretofore constructed in which the bottoms have had end portions raised above the main portion and joined to said main por-. tion by walls at right angles thereto, but in cars having bottoms thus formed the angles thus constituted therein would preclude the free movement of loose ore in a mass over the bottoms, as is essential in a minin -skip for the proper and effectual service thereof. In my improved skip I have shown and described the car-bottom as having its forward and rearward portions or ends inclined or curved upward and outward, and it is to a skip having a bottom thus formed at its ends, and which alone is serviceable for the purposes stated, that I intend to confine my claims hereunder.

hat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a mining-skip, the combination, with the side and end walls of the car-body, of a bottom composed of a corrugated metal plate, together with a separate fiat flooring or plate imposed on said corrugated plate, as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In a mining-skip, the combination, with the side walls, A, and rear end wall, C, of the car-bottom having the forward and upwardly curved or inclined front end wall, O, and the rearward and upwardly curved or inclined rear end, B and the roof D, constituting the mouth E, together with the trucks F and F, located, respectively, under the said front and rear end curved or inclined portions of said purpose specified. J

3. In a mining-skip, the combination, with the body composed of the side walls, A, rear wall, C, the bottom having the upwardly and forward curved or inclined front end, 0, and the upward and rearwardly curved or inclined rear end, B and the roof D, as described, of the aprons A, forming part of the walls A, and the axles f of the wheel'sf', journaled at their respective ends in bearings f on the aprons, and boxes f on the car under the said front and rear end curved or inclined portions of the said bottom, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

LEANDER S. XVOODBURY.

\Vitn esses:

A. I. J oNEs, HORACE J. BOON. 

